So VERY Grateful...

Two years ago today, I learned how truly grateful I am for each and every one of my children. My two oldest (both girls) were in a horrible, life altering car accident. We had been out all day with all of the kids (two cars) taking pictures... having a really good time. My oldest daughter was sixteen and had been driving for almost a full year. We turned left, heading to our next photo op, when she made a new driver mistake and followed us blindly through the turn. When I reached the crushed car, my oldest had somehow managed to climb out of the car. We still don't know how she did that since even my husband couldn't move that door after the accident. I was running from our van to her car. I kept hearing someone screaming "NO, No , no ..." I realized it was me who was screaming. As I got closer to my daughter and the car I saw she was crying and she was saying, " She's not okay."

I jumped in the car to reach my other daughter. Someone had climbed in the back and I heard him telling his wife to tell the dispatch that he was an off duty police officer and to send rescue and someone with the jaws of life. Then I heard those words that still echo around in my head, "Tell Rescue that she isn't breathing and I can't get a pulse."
I felt like my world stopped in that moment. I started talking to her and telling her that mommy was there. Within seconds, that felt like eons, she took in a huge breath and started moaning.
To make a long story short, rescue came and cut her out of the car. She had broken her pelvis in a couple of places, broken a couple of toes, broken a bone in her face, teeth... cuts all over her arm, face, etc. She had been sitting cross legged in her seat and we were told later that this is what saved her legs. There was no floor board left and this would have cut off her legs.
She spent a good portion of her sophomore year in a wheelchair. She worked hard to heal. We all found out how important each and every member is in a family... even one as big as ours. We learned that love meant sacrifice. We missed sleep to take care of her. Everyone pitched in. Everyone felt how close we had come to an outcome that was inconceivable. It was months before we could talk about how close we had been to death.
Now? Well, she is seventeen and started a new job this week. She is a CNA. She is starting her senior year in highschool. I think, often, about how different the last two years would have been if she hadn't taken that huge breath. I think every single day about how very grateful I am that we still have her in our life. Anything else would be unthinkable. Thank you God.